Mother
by As Seen Behind the Scenes
Summary: A collection of one-shots: at one point, each of the Cullen children have referred to Esme as their mother.
1. Alice

**I do not own the Twilight Saga, or any of the characters depicted. I am writing purely for my own enjoyment, and the enjoyment of others.**

**This is going to be a series of one-shots, none of which will be related to each other, and not necessarily in chronological order. **

**First up: Alice.**

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><p>Esme stood in the doorway of the family room, which had not been used nearly as often as the family room in Forks had been. She was careful to make no noise; she felt as though she had been stabbed in the heart, and now, the knife was being twisted.<p>

Alice sat in front of the coffee table, an array of papers and photographs in front of her. In her hands was a picture Esme had seen just the day before – one of a human Alice, which had been stuck in the file the Asylum had kept on her. In the picture, her hair was much longer than it now was – subconsciously, Alice was running her fingers through her hair, curling the ends around her tiny finger-tips.

"It isn't fair," Alice said to Esme, not taking her eyes off of the picture.

At a human pace, Esme crossed to the middle of the room, and sat on the ground next to Alice. Still, she did not break her stare – it was as if she was asking this past version of herself a novel-worth of questions.

"I know it isn't," Esme agreed, putting a comforting hand on Alice's shoulder.

Alice didn't answer, and spent several more seconds staring into the human girl's eyes. With a sigh, she dropped it, and put her elbows on the table, resting her head in her hands.

"I wish I could remember something about it – I feel like I'm learning all these things about someone else."

Esme pulled the picture closer to her, although she remembered it perfectly from the day before – the girl looked to be around eleven or twelve, and had a zoned-off look in her eyes; it was a look Esme knew well – this was taken while Alice was having a vision.

"In a way, she is someone else."

Again, Alice sighed, "but she isn't someone else. She's me – and I want to know _exactly _what happened."

Esme hesitated before saying, "maybe it's best you don't remember anything – it will be easier for you to move on this way."

"I don't _want _to move on!" Alice answered. "I wish that I never even learned about this!"

It was very rare for Esme to see Alice mad or upset – she was such a gentle, happy spirit, that getting on her edgy side was quite the task. Here she was, though, looking as though she wanted to cry.

Worse, she had no idea what to say to make her feel better.

"But you did," Esme said, "and now, you can put this mystery behind you."

It didn't look as though this had calmed her any, but Alice did not immediately answer.

"What kind of parent could do this to their own child?" She asked.

Again, Esme was left to think this over – would Esme have been able to lock her son away, if she had felt that there was no other option?

"I don't know, Alice."

Alice shook her head, "I thought learning about my past would answer all my questions. Instead, it just brought up a hundred new ones."

"You can't let thoughts like that consume you – and if you keep thinking about them, that's exactly what they'll do."

"No matter how hard I try... I keep thinking about it. I can't get all these questions out of my mind... and I'll never have an answer for any of them."

Esme answered, "think about how you have an eternity to be happy. Think about how you have Jasper, and you have us – and that we all love you _so much._"

Without Alice, Esme wasn't sure that the family would have made it these last few months. After Edward left, and Bella became a stranger to them, Alice had been the only one to keep her spirits high, to remind everyone that, somehow, everything would be okay in the end. Esme was amazed by her ability to do this – and was extremely grateful to her for it.

For the first time during this conversation, Alice smiled. "I am really lucky to have you guys."

"And we're lucky to have you."

It struck Esme just how little she thought of life before Alice and Jasper found them – now that she knew better, they were days she preferred not to think about. She couldn't believe that there had been a time when she thought her family was complete, and that Emmett was the last member needed to make the Cullen family whole.

Without Alice and Jasper, their family was incomplete.

"Thanks, mom – for being here."

With this statement, Esme's thoughts were reassured.

Beaming at her, Esme wrapped Alice in a hug, enjoying the small moment of motherhood she had been given.

Without a doubt, the Cullen family was a family with their difficulties and struggles, and the last year had not been kind to them. There were also moment – just like this – of happiness, and Esme did not intend on letting them pass her by.

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><p><strong>Thank you for reading - I hope you enjoyed it.<strong>

**I have decided not to include a chapter with Bella, because I can't see her ever picturing Esme as her mother - meaning this story will be five chapters long. **

**Again, thank you for reading - I really appreciate it!  
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	2. Emmett

**Thank you for your reviews/adds for the last chapter – it means a lot to me, and is greatly appreciated!  
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**Chapter two: Emmett**

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><p>So many sounds – upstairs, she could hear Edward and Bella having a conversation, talking in hushed tones, as if they knew people were listening - which, of course, there would be. In the family room, Jasper turned the pages of a book, impossibly fast, the paper so worn, even a human would have had the book memorized if they had read it that many times. Rosalie had consented to letting Alice do her make-up, which she didn't allow her to do often, and Alice was over the moon as the two girls talked and laughed.<p>

Esme sat next to Jasper, hardly paying attention to the football game that was on the television. Emmett, on the other hand, barely took his eyes off the screen, rooting for his team at every possible opportunity, cursing the opposing team equally as often.

"Which team is yours?" Esme asked, trying to place the colors with the team names. She had never been one for sports – especially something as brutal as football – and it had been years since she had last seen a game.

"Seahawks – the blue guys," Emmett answered. He sounded as though he was about to pounce on something; Esme wondered if a _game _could truly be that important.

According to the scoreboard in the corner of the screen, the Seahawks were losing – miserably. "They aren't doing very well – are they playing a very good team?"

Emmett looked at her as though she had lost her mind. "The Seahawks suck on the best of days, it doesn't matter who they play."

"And that's why you always be in debt to me," Jasper piped in, not looking up from his book. Emmett ignored him – which made Esme worried about how much money they had put down on the game. Usually, she let them have their fun when it came to gambling... although, perhaps the fact that they were betting on how many humans Bella would kill was a sign that things were getting out of control...

"Why do you like them, then?"

"Because if you live in Washington, and don't root for the Seahawks, it makes you a traitor."

Again, Esme wondered how important a game could be. She had never understood how something as trivial as sports could tear towns apart – or bring them together, for that matter. It wasn't as if the outcome of a game had any bearing on their lives, after all.

Emmett had picked up on her confusion, and went on, "they went to the Superbowl last year – Washington doesn't get much glory, so they're milking it for all they can get."

"If they went to the Superbowl, that must mean that they're a _little _good."

"More of a fluke, really," Emmett muttered, his eyes locked on the screen. He watched the players as if they were bears, and practically jumped up when a touchdown was scored. "Yes! There is hope!"

The score went up dramatically; although the time was running out, Emmett continued to stare down the players, hoping for a miracle to happen.

It wasn't long, however, before even Emmett had to face the fact that the Seahawks were destined come out on the losing end. As the final quarter ticked away, he became agitated, and was much quicker to turn to his more colorful vocabulary words.

"Emmett, language," Esme reminded him, finally starting to get the hang of the scoring system. It seemed unnecessarily complex to her – but, then again, she wasn't the sports fanatic of the house.

"Relax, mom," Emmett answered, all but growling as the score for the opposing team went up.

It seemed hilarious that he was the one telling this to her, considering he was the one who looked as though he could tear the television into a million pieces.

"I could say the same to you!" And, finally, she said what she had been wanting to say this entire time.

"After all, it's only a game."

To Esme, there would always be things more important than a game - no matter how much money she had bet on the outcome.

Most of all, despite his current behavior, she knew that the same was true for Emmett.

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><p><strong>I do not own the Twilight Saga, or anything relating to it.<strong>

**I hope you enjoyed it – this one was really fun to write! Emmett never stops being fun to write about.  
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